Yukon Canoe – Land Family Custom

Meet your guide at a pre-trip meeting this afternoon. This ought to be a quick meeting but you’ll want to get some river specific gear for the next adventure.

Fly from Fairbanks over the Tanana uplands nearly to the Canadian border and land on the gravel airstrip in the town of Eagle. We’ll have time to tour the turn of the century town before assembling our canoes and joining the current.

We will work on refining our paddling skills and getting into the rhythm of canoeing the river. Once we are comfortable on the river, we can stop-in at fish camps and homesteads to learn about life along the river.

Our time is ours to do what we please. We can start our day by climbing the bluff behind camp to smell the sweet sage and watch hawks circle above the river. Or we can head out early and watch the glassy river slip beneath the canoe. At lunch we can follow a small creek back into the woods where we find an old cabin with a garden still producing rhubarb in the wilderness. We will travel most days and will be on the water for five to six hours each day. This schedule allows plenty of time for exploring from camp or making side trips during a leisurely lunch break. We will pass many clear water side streams that offer opportunities to fish. As we near our final destination, the river bluffs disappear and we enter an area called the Yukon Flats, a fantastically productive area for waterfowl. Here, as the river slows, the sky is broad and colorful.

We leave the main river for a smaller, willow-lined side channel. After a few miles we see the log buildings of Circle, Alaska. After disassembling our canoes and packing our gear we will load into our van for a four-hour scenic drive back to Fairbanks.